AS I SEE IT – The Cage of Death match returns!

First, the anatomy of a wrestling death hoax…one bad enough that it fooled two wrestling promoters who worked with the alleged deceased, and a number of wrestling websites, including several on which you read this column, as well as the Observer and others.

Joe Zanolle of the Delaware/New Jersey based ECWA Pro Wrestling sent the following:

Mike Tartaglia talked to DC Don Drake this morning. He is alive and well. That is great news!!! To say I was down yesterday would be an understatement.

We received two different emails, one to TWA and one to ECWA, from two different email addresses. I don’t know if they intentionally started the hoax or were reporting what they read. It had personal information in there like his wife’s name, where he works (which I think he has only been at a few years), etc. Knowing that Don has had medical problems for years (and still does), it was not hard to believe.

The cell I had for Don was no longer current. We only had his work. I called his work yesterday and spoke to a woman who barely spoke English and was clueless. Mike called later last night and spoke to another woman who confirmed he was alive and then Mike spoke to Don this AM.

In the middle of the night I did one of those search gimmicks. I paid $15 to trace the IP addresses on one of the emails and all I got was city and state, Tauton, Mass who no other concrete info as to a name.

Just idiots with too much free time and nothing better to do. Pretty sad!

Sorry for all the confusion, just glad Don is OK!!!

You have to wonder what sick bastards did such a thing to the friends and fans of DC Drake, especially during this time of year. I’ve never understood death hoaxes. I can understand how a rumor gets started and spread, and digital media just helps that weird process happen. But for people to intentionally do it? Don’t get it at all.

Now, on a much happier note, this weekend saw two wrestling shows dedicated to helping others in the Philadelphia area, with the annual Cage of Death leading the way.

Combat Zone Wrestling returned to the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ for CZW: Cage of Death 14 before a standing room only (literally, the venue ran out of chairs, not to mention food despite repeated trips to outside suppliers) last night.

The day saw six huge boxes of toys collected for Camden County’s Toys for Tots effort, operated by the Marine Corps Reserve. It’s nice to know from Toys for Tots volunteers that Camden County has had 1,000 requests for toys this year, far more than in past years. This collection from Cage of Death and the EVOLVE matinee show will make a significant dent in that need. Much thanks to Maven Bentley, DJ Hyde, Gabe Sapolsky and wrestling fans from the Philadelphia/South Jersey area (along with those who traveled to the show from well beyond the area).

Let those on websites, message boards, or rival promotions say whatever they want about the style of Combat Zone Wrestling. Say whatever you want about their booking. Say whatever you want to about most anything else. But don’t ever knock them as people or doubt the sincerity and effort they put forth on this weekend. At a time when the area economy is still recovering, and then only for some, Combat Zone Wrestling gave and gave and gave some more to this effort. They publicized the Toys for Tots collection in every way they humanly could; and went so far as to contribute themselves.

Again, much, much thanks to all. You gave a lot of children a Christmas they might not otherwise have had.

To the matches:

CZW Tag Title match

Nation of Intoxication (Danny Havoc, Devon Moore, Lucky THURTteen under Freebird rules) defeated 4 Locos (Alex Colon, Azreal, and Bandido Junior) to win the CZW World Tag Team titles in a match reminiscent of the PWU “Crazy Eights” match some years back, with ropes hanging off the ceiling, a scaffold

Greg Excellent and Momma Excellent defeated Drew Gulak and Kimber Lee. Post-match, Colt Cabana came out to talk trash to Greg Excellent, and challenge him to a match at the CZW show in April at Wrestlecon, taking place as part of Wrestlemania weekend.

Adam Cole defeated Sami Callihan after a roll-up, in a match I wish I’d seen more of, but was busy helping get donated toys out to the Toys for Tots van

“Gangsta’s Paradise” cranked up and out came New Jack. New Jack cut an awesome promo putting over CZW then went off on BLK OUT and said they are done December 29 at the Extreme Reunion show at the Northeast Philadelphia Armory

Jake/Dave Crist (with Neveah) and Ruckus/Black Jeez went to a no-contest after BLK Jeez spit on Jake Crist’s wife Neveah and Jake snapped. All hell broke loose, worked or otherwise and the match was tossed.

CZW Wired Championship:

AR Fox had “asked CZW officials to bring in top world-wide talent to face him”. Out popped Robert “Ego” Anthony, who has been working Resistance Pro and other Illinois indies. Fox defeated Anthony to retain in a good back and forth chain wrestling match.

CZW Title match

MASADA defeated Drake Younger to retain after a Regal-style suplex into the chair, followed by a brainbuster, then a chairshot to the head, and small package rollup.

Cage of Death match

Cage of Death this year used the classic black and yellow Cage of Death, augmented with glass panes, barbed wire, and platforms on two corners of the ring. Matt Tremont defeated DJ Hyde to win with a Death Valley Driver off the top of the cage platform through a sandwich of panes of glass.

Chaotic Wrestling will do a show benefitting Toys for Tots on Fan Appreciation night, which takes place December 14th in Lowell, MA. http://www.toysfortots.org

Team captain Noriega vows to unmask Azteca once and for all. Team captain Azteca dictates that he will scalp, embarass, and bloody up Noriega worse than ever. Both captains agree that anyone on the other team that gets in their way will suffer an extremely unpleasant fate. Each participant on both teams knows what is at stake and vow to support one another in this endeavor. Who will be unmasked or who will lose all of their hair? Find out live!

As a reminder promotions (or their fans) can send information on scheduled Holiday charitable-themed (fund-raisers for clothes, food pantries or Toys for Toys, etc.) wrestling or MMA events to [email protected]